Chapter 49 #2
Honey smacked his abdomen, and Nikos chuckled.
There would be no showering together. It simply wouldn’t just be a shower if Nikos were in there too.
He would turn it into another session and completely defeat the purpose.
He had already talked her into doing it once, she would not have sex in Ava’s house again after this.
She hoped he would savor this as much as she was right now.
“Honey, I have to tell you something.”
“Hmm,” she murmured sleepily, wondering what sly line Nikos had to tell her now.
“In two days, I’ll be leaving to end this.”
Whatever fog that had been holding Honey down faded in an instant as her eyes popped open.
“What?”
“I’m going to settle things with my uncle once and for all, and I need you and Kai to stay here for the time being while I do it.”
Honey’s heart thundered in her chest as she sat up, tugging the blanket with her to cover herself.
She knew that this would have to happen, that they couldn’t stay in Ava’s home and hide forever, but she hadn’t been expecting it to happen so soon, and now fear was choking her as she grabbed Nikos’s hand.
“Do you have to so soon? You’re still getting better.”
“I have to handle this now before my father comes,” Nikos said, stroking her hand, trying to give her comfort, but it wasn’t enough.
To be honest, she was terrified. The last time Nikos had encountered Antonis, he had tried to kill him, nearly had if it hadn’t been for luck.
This time around, she wasn’t sure if Nikos would be so lucky.
This time around, she was certain that Antonis would make sure Nikos was dead himself.
“It’s okay, Honey,” Nikos said as he tried to bring her back down, but she shrugged off his hold.
“I was just talking to Amber, and she says that Antonis has been awful, Nikos. That he’s been looking for me and threatening the girls because of it… and Nikos what if he… what if you don’t come back this time?”
She didn’t think she could go through it again.
The pain of Antonis coming back to taunt her, telling her how he made sure he’d shot Nikos multiple times so he would never rise from the dead again, that he had thrown his body in the bay just to be certain.
She didn’t think she could handle that kind of sadness again.
Nikos sat up and pulled her into a hug. She tried to pull back, but he only held her tighter until she ceased fighting. She was frustrated, worried, and slightly panicked. But the feel of Nikos’s warm arms was subsiding the emotions whirling inside of her. Slightly.
“I have to do this, Honey.”
“But—”
“I have to,” he repeated firmly, leaving no room for argument.
While Honey knew he was right, a part of her wished that Nikos would tell her that he planned on going back to Greece, where he would be safe and let his other family members handle the situation with his uncle.
But Nikos wasn’t that kind of man. He had never been.
He was the same guy who had jumped in to help her fight off a drunk customer, the same guy who had taken on his uncle’s business when he had gone out of commission.
Nikos may have run here to avoid his own personal problems back in Greece, but when it came to fighting for others, it was something he just did.
He really was a hero, though she would never tell him that.
“I have to be the one to stop him, Honey, so you won’t have to live like this anymore.
So you and Kai can be free,” he said, squeezing her tightly.
And Honey wanted all of those things. She has desperately wanted to be free of Antonis since the moment she started working at his club, but not at the expense of Nikos’s life.
“Okay, Nikos. But you have to promise me you’ll come back alive, in one piece.
Not shot up or dead,” she told him sternly as she pulled back, looking him in the eyes, giving him the same warning tone that she gave her own son whenever she wanted him to understand that there would be consequences if he did not follow her rules.
“I can’t promise you that I won’t get shot—” Honey opened her mouth to protest but Nikos stopped her. “—but I do promise that I will come back to you alive. I promise that.”
It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, but it was the reassurance she needed. The certainty in his voice was enough to disperse the negative emotions wracking through her moments before, enough for her shoulders to relax and the frown to fall from her mouth.
“Okay,” she said, even though she hated it. She hated all of this, hated that either of them had to go through anything like this in the first place, all because Antonis was insane and didn’t understand the concept of no.
Nikos smiled and pulled her back down on the bed, situating her until they were in their previous position again.
Honey made no complaints about rushing into the shower; instead, she listened to the sound of Nikos’s heartbeat and decided to believe in his word that he would come back safe and alive.
It was the only thing she could hold onto as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.